Yarn reeling machine



March 3, 1970 E. BRINER ET AL YARN REELING- MACHINE Filed NOV. 27, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS EMIL. BP/NE FELIX CWAF BY OL/V/ER uEsT W TO EVS March 3, 1970 E, BRINE ET AL v 3,498,551

, YARN REELING MACHINE Filed Nov. 27. 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 2

f r-'1 I EMIL g F P Q FELIX (5 A OL/V/EF? WU E'S'T' E. BRINER ET L 3mm IREELIVNYG- MACHINE March 3, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 7 Filed Nov. 21 1967 s T W y s 5 w a W E WWW m v p T W56 WT l mfi Y Y B United States Patent "ice 3,498,551 YARN REELING MACHINE Emil Briner, Felix Graf, and Olivier Wuest, Winterthur, Switzerland, assignors to Rieter Machine Works Ltd., Winterthur, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Filed Nov. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 685,898

Claims priority, application Switzerland, Nov. 29, 1966,

Int. Cl. B65h 54/42 U.S. Cl. 242--35.5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The arm which supports the bobbins is supported in dependent fashion and is pivoted from below in a reversible manner towards or away from the drive roller by the lower piston assembly. The piston assembly on the arm serves to slide the bobbin supports relative to the arm to effect a delayed braking of the rotating bobbins and subsequent unlocking from the tension spindles for replacement.

This invention relates to a yarn reeling machine. More particularly, this invention relates to a reeling machine having an apparatus for mounting bobbins thereon.

Generally, yarn which is produced in a meltor dry spinning process, particularly stretched or unstretched continuous filaments as produced in the chemical fiber industry, is wound onto bobbins by various reeling machines. Frequently, the winding bobbins upon which the yarns are wound have been mounted in tandem arrangements and held against a drive roller under a contact pressureby means of springs or weights so that rotation of the drive roller causes rotation of the bobbins.

In many instances, in order to replace the bobbins with fresh empty bdbbins, the bobbins have been mounted in the machines so as to be removable individually from the drive roller upon overcoming of the contact pressure exerted by the springs or weights. For example, in some cases, the bobbins have been mounted either on individual arms which were supported from below and oriented from above or on bobbin bearings which were movable in the machine frame. However, these constructions have had the disadvantage that at the time of removal, ie when the bobbins are full and thus are of a weight of up to kilograms, the bobbins have to be lifted manually after being removed from their spindles to the height of waiting transportation carriage. Further, this has frequently been troublesome due to the great number of bobbins which usually have to be changed within a short period of time.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide for an automatic disengagement of the bobbins from a drive roller of a reeling machine.

It is another object of the invention to provide for an automatic elevating of the bobbins to a convenient level from removal from a reeling machine.

It is another object of the invention to support a plurality of bobbins in pivotal depending manner adjacent a drive roller.

It is another object of the invention to permit a relatively rapid removal of wound bobbins from a reeling machine.

Patented Mar. 3, 1970 Briefly, the invention provides a reeling machine for winding continuous, stretched or unstretched, yarn of, for example, a melt or dry spinning process with a depending and pivotally mounted bobbin mounting arm and means for rectractably pivoting the arm relative to a drive roller within the frame of the reeling machine. The bobbin mounting arm is constructed so as to support a plurality of bobbins one above the other in slidable relation to the drive roller while the bobbins are biased towards the drive roller for driven rotatable engagement with the drive roller. In addition, the bobbin mounting arm is sized at the lower end so as to be seated within a centering guide slot in the reeling machine frame. This, together with the mounting at the upper end, holds the arm against lateral movement and deflections under the forces generated by the eccentrically acting bobbin weights or the reactions of the contact forces of the drive roller so as to ensure a substantially precise seating of the bobbins on the drive roller.

The means for retractably pivoting the arm is mounted below the arm within the machine frame and is controlled in a reversible manner so that the arm can be pivoted with the frame to engage the freshly mounted bobbins with the drive roller and pivoted out of the frame to lift the arm into a position wherein the wound bobbins can be removed.

In addition to the means for pivoting the arm relative to the drive roller, a means is mounted on the arm for sliding the bobbins within the arm to interrupt the drive engagement of the bobbins with the drive roller. This means is actuated simultaneously with the arm pivoting means so as to augment the forces causing separation of the bobbins and drive rollers and to cause a braking of the rotation of the bobbins after a predetermined amount of movement within the arm.

The bobbins are mounted on individual tension spindles on the mounting arm which contain releaseable bobbin securing means for locking the bobbins in place. The releasable bobbin securing means is actuated in dependence upon the means in the arm for sliding the bobbins within the arm so that the securing means maintains the bobbins in a locked relation on the spindle until the rotation of the bobbins is arrested. After the bobbins come to a stop, the securing means is actuated to unlock the bobbins so as to permit removal of the wound bobbins and replacement by fresh empty bobbins.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a sectional View of a reeling machine according to the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a fragmentary lateral view of the reeling machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates the bobbin support arm and the means for pivoting the arm;

FIG. 4 illustrates a view taken on line IV-IV of FIG. 1 of the centering guide slot;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional View of a valve used to control the actuation of the means for pivoting the arm;

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a bobbin tension spindle utilized in the invention; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a view of a detail of the tension spindle.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the reeling machine has a galette 1 mounted on a frame 2 which winds a yarn 3 through a yarn traverse, for example, a slit drum 4, to a pair of upper winding bobbins 5, 5 or a pair of lower winding bobbins 6, 6'. Each pair of bobbins is driven in a known manner by a common drive roller 7 against which the bobbins are biased by counterweights 8, 8' through tensioned cable lines 9, 9' so that the yarn 3 is wound on one of the pairs of bobbins. Each bobbin includes a bobbin sleeve 10 which is mounted concentrically on a bobbin tensioning spindle 11 which in turn is rotatably mounted on a shaft 13 fixedly seated in a bobbin support 12. Each bobbin support 12 is slidably mounted in a guideway 14 of a bobbin mounting arm 15 such that the bobbin support 12 together with the associated pair of bobbins can move relative to the arm 15 and against the drive roller 7 under the influence of the respective counterweights 8, 8.

The arm 15 is pivotably mounted at the upper end in the frame 2 by a pivot pin 16' so as to be dependently suspended. Also, a wedge-like extension 15 is provided on the lower end of the arm 15 to seat within a centering guide slot 3' in the lower part of the frame 2 to, thus, accurately fix the arm 15 against an otherwise uncontrollable lateral excursion of the depending arm 15.

Referring to FIG. 3, a means for pivoting the arm 15 about the pivot pin 16 is provided below the level of the bobbins within the frame 2 so that the arm 15 can be pivoted upwardly counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 1 for permitting removal of the bobbins. The means includes a piston rod 16 which is secured to the arm 15 at one end and which has a headed end 17 at the opposite end slidably mounted within a cylinder 18 pivotally mounted in the frame 2. The opposite interior ends of the cylinder 18 on opposite sides of the headed piston end 17 are connected through suitable lines 19, 20 to a four-way electrovalve 21 and a suitable pressure fluid source (not shown). The operation of the valve 21 is controlled by an electrical circuit 22 having a solenoid 23 operatively connected to the valve 21 and a switch 24 for opening and closing the circuit 22, for example, a manual switch, to activate the solenoid. When the switch 24 is opened, the valve 21 is in the state shown in FIG. 5 so that a flow of pressure fluid is transmitted through line 19 to retract the piston 16 into the cylinder 18. This swings the arm 15 towards the drive roller 7 to permit the drive roller 7 to engage and rotate the bobbins for winding up of the yarn 3. When the switch 24 is closed, as indicated in FIG. 3, the pressure fluid is transmitted through line 20 to move the piston 16 out of the cylinder 18. This causes the arm 15 to swing upwardly away from the drive roller 7 in order to permit subsequent removal of the fully wound bobbins from the reeling machine.

The valve 21 also communicates with a line 25 connected in parallel with line 20 which connects with the interior of a cylinder 26 behind the head 31 of a piston rod 27 slidably mounted within the cylinder 28. The cylinder 26 is fixedly mounted in the arm 15 between the bobbin supports 12 so that the piston rod 27 is directed outwardly towards the bobbins. A stop 28 is secured on the exposed end of the piston rod 27 which is sized to abut against a pair of bobbin support cams 29, 30 of the bobbin supports 12 when the piston rod 27 is moved out of the cylinder 26. The piston rod 27 is thus able to displace the bobbin supports 12 to the rgiht, as viewed in FIG. 3, through the stop 28 and earns 29, 30 relative to the arm 15 so as to remove the bobbins from engagement with the drive roller 7. The piston 27 is moved in this fashion when the switch 24 is closed (FIG. 3) so that fluid pressure flows through line 20 and thus through line 25 into the cylinder 26. When the switch 24 is opened, the pressure in line 25 is allowed to blow off through the valve 21 so as to'allow the bobbin supports 12 to move in the arm 15 under the influence of the counterweights 8, 8 toward the drive roller 7.

Referring to FIG. 6, each bobbin tensioning spindle 11 is rotatably mounted on the fixed shaft 13 on suitable ball bearings. The spindle 11 includes a cylinder 35 which is rotatably mounted on the ball bearings and which fixedly carries a ring 36 on the interior. A stationary rings 37 is fixed on the shaft 13 to anchor one end of a pressure and torsion spring 38 which concentrically surrounds a stem of a piston 38. The piston 38 is slidably and rotatably mounted on the shaft 13 for movement relative to the fixed ring 37 under the biasing force of the spring 38 against a stop 40' on the shaft 13. The piston 38 includes a flange 39 which is provided on the opposite side of the stop 40' with a brake lining 40 facing the fixed ring 36 on cylinder 35 in spaced relation and is recessed on the side of the stop 40. In addition, the outer surface of the flange 39 is provided with a non-contact labyrinth packing Zone 39 for sealing relationship with the cylinder 35. A sealing flange 41 is tightly secured on the shaft 13 adjacent the piston flange 39 in sealing relation with the cylinder 35 so as to seal off the interior of the cylinder 35 at this end. In addition, the sealing flange 41 is recessed on the side adjacent the piston flange 39 so as to define a chamber 55 with the piston flange 39.

The spindle 11 also includes a closure 45 at one end of the cylinder 35 for sealing the cylinder 35 at this end to define a chamber 56 between the piston flange 39 and closure 45. The closure 45 is provided with a bore 46 which slidably mounts a piston 47 therein in sealed relation. The piston 47 is spring loaded by a spring 48 in a direction into the chamber 55 at one end and is secured to a tube 49 concentric of the cylinder 35 at the other and through a suitable plate. The tube 49 is chamfered at the free end and cooperates with a similarly chamfered coaxial tube 52 which is also slidably mounted on the cylinder 35 to support a deformable rubber ring 51 therebetween. A similar tube 52' is mounted on the opposite end of the cylinder 35 to engage another deformable rubber ring 53 in cooperation with the tube 52. The tubes 49, 52, 52' cooperate with the rubber rings 51, 53 to lock the bobbin sleeve 10 in place in the manner described below.

The shaft 13 has a central bore 34 which communicates through radial bore 42 with the chamber 55 and through a smaller radial bore 44 and opening 43 in the piston 38 with chamber 56. The diameter of bore 44 is smaller than that of bore 42 in order to throttle the passage of a pressure fluid from the central bore 34 into the chamber 56. The central bore 34 also communicates through a bore in the bobbin support 12 and a hose 54 with the cylinder 26 by way of a respective line 32, 33. The lines 32, 33 are connected into the cylinder at points spaced from the line 25 on the opposite side of the piston head 31 so that pressure fluid does not enter the lines 32, 33 until after the piston 27 has been expelled from the cylinder 26 a distance suflicient to permit passage of the piston head 31 past the line connections.

In operation, with the bobbins 5, 5, 6, 6 being in pressure contact with the drive roller 7 so as to be in a rotating condition, in order to remove the yarn wound bobbins, the switch 24 is closed (FIG. 3). This forces pressure fluid through line 20 into cylinder 18 so as to expel piston 16 and cause pivoting of arm 15 upwardly. At the same time, pressure fluid passes through line 25 into cylinder 26 so as to expel piston 27 and cause sliding of the bobbin supports 12 in the arm 15 in a direction away from the drive roller. The bobbins are thus removed from driven engagement with the drive roller 7. As the piston 27 continues to move in the cylinder 26, the lines 32, 33 become exposed to the pressure fluid so that the pressure fluid passes into the central bore 34 of each shaft 13. Next, the pressure fluid passes through the bores 42, 44 into the chambers 55, 56. However, since the flow is throttled in passing through bore 44, a higher initial pressure occurs in chamber 55 such that the piston 38 is slid toward the ring 56. The brake lining 40 thus comes into frictional contact with the opposed surfaces of the ring 36 to brake the rotation of the ring 36 and, consequently, the cylinder 35 and bobbin. When the brake lining 40 comes into contact with the ring 36 a force couple is imposed on the piston 38 to angularly rotate the piston 38 against the force of the torsion spring 38 so that the bore 44 becomes covered (cf. FIG. 7) and the flow of pressure fluid is cut off. As the cylinder 35 is brought to a stop, the force couple on the piston 38 diminishes until the couple reaches zero force after stopping of the cylinder 35. This allows the torsion spring 38 to return the piston 38 to the normal position wherein the bore 44 is uncovered. The pressure fluid again flows into the chamber 56 until a balance of pressure is obtained between the chambers 55, 56. The torsion spring 38' then moves the piston 38 back against the stop 40 to release the brake on the cylinder 35. At the same time, the spring loaded piston 47 is expelled out of the chamber 56 under the force of the pressure fluid. This causes the tube 49 to move to the right as viewed in FIG. 6. Further, since the rubber rings 51, 53 are initially deformed, the rubber rings 51, 53 are allowed to expand upon movement of the tube 49 so that the coaxial tube 52 also moves to the right. The rubber rings 51, 53 thus become relaxed and disengage from the bobbin sleeve 10; The bobbin sleeve 10 and bobbin can thus be axially slipped from the tension spindle 11 and replaced by a fresh empty bobbin when the arm 15 has been brought to its uppermost bobbin replacing position under the total stroke of the piston 16 as shown in dotted line in FIG. 1.

In order to return the arm 15 and empty bobbins into a working position, the switch 24 is opened. This causes the valve 21 to direct the flow of pressure fluid into the line 19 so that the piston 16 is retracted into the cylinder 18. At the same time, the pressure fluid in the chambers 55, 56 of the tension spindles 11 is exhausted through the central bore 34 back into the respective lines 32, 33 under the excessive pressure of the springs 45. This forces the piston 47 to move into the chamber 56 to cause the tube 49 to compress the rubber ring 51 against the tube 52 and to also cause the tube 52 to move towards the stationary tube 52 to compress the other rubber ring 53. The compressive forces on the rubber rings 51, 53 deform the rings so as to frictionally lock against the fresh bobbin sleeve 10.

Also, as the pressure fluid is directed into line 1'9, the pressure fluid in the cylinder 26, after relief is obtained in the tension spindles 11, is exhausted into the line 25 forflow into the valve 21. This fluid is exhausted under the pressure exerted by the counterweights 8, 8 through thebobbin support cams 29, 30 on the stop 28 of the piston 27. As the arm 15 is swung down into its lowermost position the wedge-like extension 15 becomes seated in the centering guide slot 3' so as to maintain the arm against lateral movement. Also, the bobbins come into driven contact with the drive roller 7 and begin to rotate.

As soon'as the fresh bobbins have been built up with yarn to take-off size, the lifting, braking and sleeve releasing steps are repeated upon throwing of the switch 24 and reversing of the valve 21.

Having thus described the invention, it is not intended that it be so limited as changes may be readily made therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

.1. In a reeling machine for yarn having a frame and drive roller therein; an arm pivotally mounted in dependent fashion in said frame, a plurality of rotatable bobbins mounted in said arm for driven engagement with said drive roller, first means mounted within said frame below said bobbins for pivoting said arm towards said drive roller to engage said bobbins with said drive roller, and second means mounted on said frame below said bobbins for receiving said arm in seated relation whereby said arm is held against lateral movements and deflections when seated in said second means on said frame.

2. In a reeling machine as set forth in claim 1, said first means being reversible for pivoting said arm away from said drive roller in an upward direction into a bobbin removal position.

3. In a reeling machine as set forth in claim 2, said first means comprising a cylinder pivotally mounted in said frame, a piston slidably mounted in said cylinder and secured to said arm, line means for directing a flow of pressure fluid into said cylinder on either of the opposite sides of said piston to slide said piston in said cylinder, and control means for controlling the direction of pressure fluid flow into said line means to control the pivoting of said arm.

4. In a reeling machine for yarn having a frame and drive roller therein; an arm pivotally mounted in de pendent fashion in said frame, a plurality of rotatable bobbins "slidably mounted in said arm for driven engagement with said drive roller, means mounted within said framebelow said bobbins for pivoting said arm towards said drive roller to engage said bobbins with said drive roller, said means being reversible for pivoting said arm away from said drive roller in an upward direction into a bobbin removal position and including a cylinder pivotally mounted in said frame, a piston slidably mounted in said cylinder and secured to said arm, line means for directing a flow of pressure fluid into said cylinder on either of the opposite sides of said piston to slide said piston in said cylinder, and control means for controlling the direction of pressure fluid flow into said line means to control the pivoting of said arm, and means mounted on said arm for sliding said bobbins relative to said arm to separate said bobbins from said drive roller, said means for sliding said bobbins being operatively connected with said control means for sliding said bobbins away from said drive roller in response to pivoting of said arm away from said drive roller.

5. In a reeling machine as set forth in claim 4, each said bobbin being rotatably mounted on a tension spindle secured in a support slidably mounted in said arms, means operatively connected to said line means for braking the rotation of each said bobbin on said tension spindle in re sponse to movement of each said bobbin a predetermined distance relative to said arm.

6. In a reeling machine as set forth in claim 5, each said tension spindle having a pressure fluid chamber therein for receiving pressure fluid from said line means, look ing means on each said tension spindle for releaseably locking a bobbin thereon, said locking means being responsive to the pressure of the pressure fluid in said chamber after braking of the rotation of said bobbin.

7. In a reeling machine as set forth in claim 1, said bobbins being slidably mounted in said arm, means mounted in said arm for sliding said bobbins relative to said arm to separate said bobbins from said drive roller.

8. In a reeling machine for yarn having a frame and drive roller therein; an arm pivotally mounted in dependent fashion in said frame, a plurality of rotatable bobbins slidably mounted in said arm for driven engagement with said drive roller, means mounted in said arm for sliding said bobbins relative to said arm to separate said bobbins from said drive roller, means for breaking the rotation of said bobbins in response to the sliding of said bob bins a predetermined distance relative to said arm to permit removal of said bobbins from said arm, and means mounted within said frame below said bobbins for pivoting said arm towards said drive roller to engage said bobbins with said drive roller.

9. In a reeling machine as set forth in claim 1, each said bobbins being mounted on a rotatable spindle mounted in a slidable support in said arm, locking means for releaseably locking each bobbin on said rotatable spindle.

10. In a reeling machine as set forth in claim 1, said second means includes a centering guide slot and said arm 7 8 includes a wedge-like extension for seating in said center- 3,016,205 1/1962 Barnes 24218 ing guide slot. 3,042,324 7/ 1962 Kinney 24218 References Cited 3,094,294 6/1963 Kiesel 242 65 UNITED STATES PATENTS STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner 2,572,904 10/1951 Bauer 242 1s XR 5 2,647,697 8/1953 Pollock 24235'5 WERNER H. SCHROEDER, Asslstant Examlner 2,919,865 1/1960 Doherty 242355 U.S. Cl. X.R.

2,984,427 5/ 1961 Rockstrom 24265 24246.4 

